- Most people with type 2 diabetes require more than one medication to manage their condition.
- A new study reports that almost 40% of people with type 2 diabetes stop taking their secondary medications within a year.
- Experts say side effects, cost, and a high pill burden may contribute to lack of compliance with medications.
Almost 40% of people with type 2 diabetes discontinue their secondary medications within a year.
That’s according to new research published in the American Journal of Managed Care.
In their study, researchers reported that two-thirds of people with type 2 diabetes discontinued their medication, switched their medication, or changed their dosage within 12 months of it being prescribed.
They noted the issue was particularly acute with people taking
“Discontinuation is bad. It is common in all five types of medications, but we see significantly more in those prescribed the GLP-1 RAs,” David Liss, PhD, a co-author of the study and a research associate professor of general internal medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, said in a press release.
“Presumably, the doctor is saying, ‘You need to start a new medication to control your type 2 diabetes’ and then within a year, half of them just stop and don’t start another one, and that’s not a good thing,” Liss added. “Our findings highlight the need for new prescribing approaches and to better understand the barriers patients face when taking these medications, to ultimately reduce wasting patients’ time, clinicians’ time, and the health system’s money.”
The researchers reported that 77% of people who take medications for type 2 diabetes are prescribed metformin as their first line treatment. However, many people require secondary medications for long term glycemic control.
The researchers studied 82,000…
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